WFP struggles to ensure safe and timely food deliveries to millions in Ethiopia amid conflict, inflation, and financial shortfalls

 The World Food Program (WFP) has expressed concern over the increasing challenges it faces in ensuring safe and timely food deliveries to Ethiopia’s most vulnerable populations.

According to the UN agency, these challenges are exacerbated by the ongoing conflict, rising inflation, and a widening funding gap for humanitarian efforts.

In its latest country brief, published on 23 August, 2024, the WFP highlighted Ethiopia’s dire food crisis, warning that the situation could deteriorate further without increased aid during the peak needs period from July through September 2024.

It further emphasized that the possibility of more severe outcomes is a stark reality if support does not intensify during this critical time.

WFP indicates that a staggering 15.8 million individuals across Ethiopia are in dire need of food assistance in 2024, primarily attributable to the ongoing drought.

However, the agency emphasized that the deteriorating security situation, particularly within regions such as North and Oromia, is giving rise to access challenges, jeopardizing the safety of its staff, and negatively impacting its operations.

A recent report by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) also disclosed that 14 kidnappings of aid workers for ransom have occurred in 2024.

In its recent Food and Nutrition Security Update, WFP further highlighted that the depreciation of the birr, resulting from recent macroeconomic measures, is anticipated to have an immediate adverse effect on impoverished households.

‘The introduction of free-floating exchange rates and the subsequent depreciation of the birr are expected to exert an immediate detrimental impact on poor households,’ forecasted the UN agency. ‘Elevated food prices constitute one of the primary factors contributing to acute food insecurity by restricting economic access to food.’

In the aftermath of the recent government’s implementation of comprehensive macroeconomic reforms, the country, particularly the capital Addis Abeba, has witnessed a marked increase in prices for a variety of consumer goods, prompting a crackdown on businesses accused of price gouging and hoarding.

Beyond the security challenges and escalating food prices, the WFP has indicated that a funding gap is hindering the scale of its operations, limiting its ability to reach more vulnerable segments of the population.